British Military Firearms 1650-1850 1st Edition 1961

British Military Firearms 1650-1850 1st Edition 1961

British Military Firearms 1650-1850 1st Edition 1961. The first book “to be devoted entirely to the British military firearm. … Starting with the seventeenth century the author traces the development of the standard military arm from the matchlock musket, through all the varieties of the flintlock, to the introduction of the Enfield rifle in the later half of the nineteenth century. Detailed information is given on the famous Brown Bess and India Pattern Muskets, and on the experimental models produced by such gunmakers as Richard Wooldridge, Henry Nock and Durs Egg. The cavalry carbines and pistols which were contemporary with them are also described in detail. Many of these, like the Egg breechloader and the Royal Horse Artillery pistol, are described for the first time. All the different types of bayonets are catalogued — some of them never having been previously identified. Naval arms are included, and prominence is given to special weapons such as the seven-barrelled volley gun and the heavy rifle firing a belted ball. The introduction of the rifle is dealt with in full and the ill-fated Ferguson rifle provides a poignant story. Collectors will delight in the wealth of technical detail this book offers; in the fascinating glimpses of the lives of the gunmakers who made the guns and the soldiers who used them; in the lively description of the manufacture and proof of early firearms; and in the Appendix which sets out contract prices.”